From RealGM:

“On Thursday, the Los Angeles Clippers extended a contract offer to point guard Carlos Arroyo, a source close to the situation tells RealGM’s Alex Kennedy.While terms of the deal were not revealed, it is the only offer Arroyo has received this summer.

Arroyo’s last stint in the NBA was with the Orlando Magic. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.5 assists per game in 2007.

Last season, Arroyo led Maccabi Tel Aviv to an Israeli Premier League Championship and was named Finals MVP.

He would be the fourth point guard on Los Angeles’ roster, which suggests that they’re no longer pursuing restricted free agent Ramon Sessions.”

Eric Pincus, senior writer at HoopsWorld.com, says otherwise via his twitter page:

“I’ve been told by rock solid source that the Clippers did NOT make an offer to Arroyo – and aren’t planning to.”

The conflicting reports around Arroyo are interesting to say the least. There is some speculation that Arroyo’s camp is floating this rumor to spark interest around the league, and while that may be the case, the prospect of the Clippers bringing in Arroyo is very believable. The need for a third point guard to back up the injury prone Baron Davis and the sometimes shaky Sebastian Telfair is ever present, and Arroyo has enough talent to warrant being given that roster spot. The issue with Arroyo has never been his talent level, but instead his attitude. In Arroyo’s previous NBA stints he clashed with coaches Jerry Sloan and Stan Van Gundy, and because of that he’s earned a less than favorable reputation around the league.

Brian Robb of CelticsHub recently profiled Arroyo, and is relatively high on Arroyo as a quality backup point guard. Robb makes some nice points in his article; Arroyo is a decent enough outside shooter (32% from 3 on his career), and has shown to be a good distributor when given the minutes (5 assists a game for Utah in ‘03).Perhaps Arroyo, now 30 years old, has grown up a bit and was humbled by a year away from the NBA lifestyle.

If Arroyo does become a Clipper, the Ramon Sessions saga will uneventfully come to a close, at least for this offseason. The prospects of the Sessions camp breaking down and signing a Clippers offer sheet, if one was ever offered, became slimmer and slimmer as the summer progressed. With more free agents jumping overseas, more teams completing their rosters, and training camp inching closer everyday, the Clippers front office may have finally decided to move forward and complete the roster sans Sessions.

In related news, the man Arroyo may be replacing seems to have found a spot in Memphis with the Grizzlies, according to RealGM:

The Memphis Grizzlies have offered point guard Mike Taylor a contract following his workout with the team on Thursday, sources tell RealGM’s Alex Kennedy.Memphis also worked out Juan Dixon, Jason Hart, and Bo McCaleb. They planned to bring in Brevin Knight, Luther Head, and Tyronn Lue for workouts before extending the offer to Taylor.

As a rookie last season, Taylor averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 assists with the Los Angeles Clippers

Is it Mike Taylor out, Carlos Arroyo in?

There may not be a bigger testament to Mike Taylor’s worth than the emotional response elicited from fans and teammates upon hearing the news late Friday night. No one seemed more hurt by the news than Taylor’s best friend on the team, DeAndre Jordan, who briefly commented via Twitter. DeAndre is clearly upset (s.m.h means ’shaking my head’) that Taylor is no longer on the team, and as of right now he’s probably not the happiest Clipper.

If you’re able to take the emotion out of it, Taylor’s release becomes a little easier to understand. If the decision was based purely on basketball talent and raw potential alone, Taylor surely would have stayed over a few other Clippers. This move was purely a financial decision, as Taylor’s contract was non-guaranteed and saved the Clippers $736,420 dollars and a much desired roster space. Ricky Davis and Mark Madsen likely stayed because they would have had to been bought out, something that Sterling is likely not in favor of doing. In addition, both Davis and Madsen’s contracts expire this year, so their deals have additional trading value that Taylor’s did not. Lastly, by releasing Taylor the number of signed players goes down to 13, giving Dunleavy one extra spot to reach his standard 14 man roster.

In hindsight, it’s hard to expect more than what Taylor gave the Clippers last season. Taylor not only beat out veteran Jason Hart for the primary backup point guard role as a rookie, but he also performed admirably when Baron Davis went down late last season. He was prone to turnovers and off games, but the flashes of potential he showed largely outweighed the mistakes.

Perhaps the most confusing thing about Taylor being released has more to do with how he was acquired. Taylor was originally drafted last year by the Trailblazers, but the Clippers ended up acquiring Taylor for a 2009 second rounder. Dunleavy and company had to have known what they were getting themselves into by drafting a player out of the NBDL, as Taylor would obviously require great patience. Instead, despite his overall impressive performances, Taylor was given only his rookie season to develop . It’s hard to believe the theory that Taylor played his way out of a job by performing poorly in 5 summer league games, as his fate seemed to be decided long before.

The most troubling thing about Taylor’s release is the possible indication that the franchise isn’t as willing to be as patient with it’s young core as it probably should. Trading for draft picks with an eye towards the future is good; releasing them after a mostly successful year is not. You’d like to believe that management could have found a way to keep a 23 year old prospect amidst some of the dead weight on the current roster, regardless of the previously outlined circumstances. Before casting too much judgment though, let’s wait and see what is done with those expiring contracts and empty roster slot.

There is one thing this move definitely signifies: The Clippers aren’t done making moves quite yet.

According to InsideHoops, the Clippers waived Mike Taylor today. Taylor’s contract was to become guaranteed after today, but Clippers management decided against retaining him. Taylor was scheduled to make $736,420 this year.

Taylor showed a ton of potential towards the end of the year. Taylor went off for 35 points at Madison Square Garden on March 25th, which was good for one of the highest single game point performances by any rookie last season. Taylor’s rough summer in Vegas, where he struggled with inconsistency and maintaining the proper tempo, probably lost him his job. Mike Taylor may not have been a true point guard, but many Clippers fans were hopeful he could blossom and enjoy a career similar to Bobby Jackson.

It’s quite the turn of events, considering Taylor was a player that management traded a 2009 2nd rounder to acquire. That traded pick eventually became pick 33 of this years draft, who Portland used to select Dante Cunningham.

Taylor became quite the fan favorite in L.A. for his electrifying dunks and speedy play. In the dying months of the season, Taylor was routinely applauded by fans for his consistent effort and hustle.

Taylor’s waiving leaves the Clippers with only three true guards on the roster; Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, and Sebastian Telfair. This move may further intensify the Clippers pursuit of Ramon Sessions.

If this is truly the last we’ll see of Mike Taylor in a Clippers uniform, we might as well let him go out in style.

• There are two primary reasons why Eric Gordon has missed each of the past two games: [1] He has a bruised leg, though it’s nothing serious. [2] He’s been invited to Team USA mini-camp here in Vegas next week. “We don’t want to kill him,” assistant general manager Neil Olshey said.  There’s a precedent for too much summer basketball taking its toll in the subsequent season. As disappointing as it is not to see him play, sitting out makes sense in the longterm.
• Gordon’s absence is making life far more difficult for Blake Griffin. With virtually no teammates on the floor who demand attention, the Wizards swarmed Griffin last night in their waxing of the Clips. They trapped him aggressively anytime he got the ball inside of 15 feet. Although Griffin’s stat line was still nice-looking (19 points on 21 possessions, 10 rebounds, four steals against five turnovers), he was far from the dominant force that controlled the game against the Lakers. Still, he passed out of the double-teams fairly well, and we have to appreciate that life will be much easier for him in these situations when Eric Gordon, Baron Davis, Al Thornton, Marcus Camby, and Chris Kaman are on the receiving end on those passes, no disrespect intended to Mike Taylor and the hard-working grunts filling out the Clippers’ Summer League roster. Griffin has been a little prone to overdribbling out on the perimeter. Given Washington’s defensive strategy, it got him in trouble. Again, this isn’t a grave concern because, come October, he’ll be playing alongside seasoned NBA players and will, by and large, be on the receiving end of most halfcourt action.
• As much as I wanted to see Dionte Christmas have a good week, he hasn’t impressed. Christmas is 4-for-13 from the floor with two rebounds this week in 53 minutes.
• After lighting the gym on fire over his first two games, DeAndre Jordan has appeared less comfortable the last couple of outings. It’s the usual diagnosis: His motor starts running in the red, and he gets ahead of the game. He wasn’t awful last night: 14 points in 14 possessions to go along with 10 boards and three blocks. The better news? He’s hit 13 of his last 19 free throws, something he’s been working tirelessly on.
• Mike Taylor is killing the Clippers. The stats aren’t pretty (25.7% from the field, 14 turnovers against five assists), and his command of the game has been even worse. If Taylor is truly interested in being more than a novelty in the NBA, he’s going to have to slow down and put some serious work in on his shot.
• I’ll be tweeting Summer League today from about 1:30p until the last game ends. Though I’ll be bouncing between Cox Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack Center most of the day, I’ll tweet every minute of the Clippers-Suns game at 7:30p.  Please follow me here.

• DeAndre Jordan continues to impress. You always have to offer a qualifier in Summer League, because many of Jordan’s easy routes to the hoop won’t be there when long, speedy NBA help defenders in the regular season slide over to cut off DJ’s path to the rim, but here in Vegas, he’s winning every race to the basket — by a mile. His post moves are far more refined. He’s pivoting middle, bumping his defender with authority as he backs in, and isn’t rushing his shot. He’s shooting 15-for-19 from the field over the two games. Equally impressive? The defensive strides. DJ is communicating with his teammates. He’s not dropping back aimlessly on the pick-and-roll.
• Blake Griffin is a far more versatile player than he was five months ago in a Sooner uniform: the interior passing out of double-teams and his range, in particular. So far as his work down low, his fundamental understanding of his strengths is unparalleled. A nice example of this came in the third quarter, when he was fed the ball underneath on the right block. The defense came quickly. Rather than travel or get flustered (which would’ve been the case for 65% of the PFs in the league), Griffin showed great control and patience moving his pivot foot for a reverse layup. Griffin’s obvious physical gifts jump out at you. But it’s his more subtle attributes –  balance and a good low base –  that will make him a dominant force. Even the most physical interior defenders are going to have a tough time knocking Griffin off his move. Defensively, he’ll have some work to do. He’s a great communicator and has the ability to read opposing offenses. Switch-and-recovery? Check. Driving point guards away from the screen on a trap? Check. But as a post defender, he has room to improve — and he will.
• Eric Gordon’s performance was encouraging in that he scored 22 points on 19 possessions without hitting a shot from beyond the arc. Obviously, you always like to see EJ light it up from the outside, but it’s not as if his shot won’t be there. What you do like to see is the expansion of his post game, something he utilized effectively against some of the Hornets’ smaller defenders. Eric’s defense was also a nice feature to yesterday’s game. He kept a crafty Darren Collison out of the paint on a couple of occasions, and I like the way he did it. Gordon employed an almost Battier-ish approach. Rather than overcrowd Collison, Eric instead chose to guard the paint rather than the man. Collison still had a productive game, though the bulk of his points came against other Clipper defenders.
• Mike Taylor needs to slow down, particularly on halfcourt sets. There’s nothing wrong with running out in transition to initiate the offense before the defense gets set, but Taylor’s frenetic pace is making life harder than it needs to be for the Clippers. He’s getting to the line at a good frequency, but his iffy ballhandling is costing the Clippers possessions. It’s not the turnovers, per se, but Taylor’s insistence on improvisation in the halfcourt, when he’s got weapons like Gordon, Griffin, and Jordan establishing position in the right spots. Taylor simply doesn’t have the vision to run a drive-and-kick scheme, which means that, except on breaks, he should be looking for his horses first.
• “We’re talking to a lot of guys,” was Mike Dunleavy’s response to a questions about Allen Iverson. He acknowledged that the conversations with Iverson and his camp are real, but that there are several point guards on his radar, Iverson being one of them.  “It’s in your interest to talk to everyone,” Dunleavey said. “That’s how you understand where the market is.” Speaking with a number of other executives and agents in Las Vegas, the vast majority of them put the likelihood that Iverson will be in a Clippers jersey come October at less than 50%.

I’ll have more on Griffin’s debut over the next several hours. This is what I filed for TrueHoop:

Moments prior to Blake Griffin’s NBA debut, the Los Angeles Clippers’ brass was lined up courtside, smiling widely like expectant parents. And if the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas weren’t a smoke-free facility, they would’ve been lighting up stogies two minutes into the Clippers’ Summer League game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Blake Griffin: Scoring Every Which Way (Garrett Ellwood/NBA via Getty Images)

Griffin, the Clips’ prized rookie and the first overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, delivered seven points in the game’s first three possessions. In his first professional set, Griffin hooked up with second-year guard Eric Gordon for a pick-and-roll that resulted in an easy layup for the rookie.

“That should be the bread and butter this coming year,” Gordon said. “We’re both young guys and we should have a great chemistry.”

The Gordon-Griffin connection was just the opening salvo in Griffin’s 27-point, 12-rebound attack, but it was a huge relief for the rookie who was antsy to play competitive basketball for the first time since suiting up for Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament last spring.

“I really wanted to hit my first layup to take the edge off a little bit,” Griffin said. “I kind of settled down on my jumpers.”

You could say that.

Though Griffin hit a grand total of three 3-pointers in his two-year college career, he followed up that first layup Monday night by moving out to the perimeter for his next two buckets. On the Clippers’ second possession, Griffin got the ball from guard Mike Taylor, absorbed hard contact from Lakers big man Ben McCauley, squared up and went glass from 15. He bested that the next trip down with a silky 3-pointer.

What got into Griffin?

It might have something to do with the fact that Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy actually stopped practice the other day to implore the rookie to launch the ball when he’s got an open look.

“I caught one almost in the same position, passed it up, and he stopped me and said, ‘Shoot the ball. I’m not going to get mad if you take a wide-open shot’,” Griffin recounted. “So I’m trying to get into that mindset.”

Griffin has been plugging away to refine his outside shot. In a league increasingly dominated by power forwards who can do more than just throw their weight around inside of 15 feet, he knows he’ll have to develop a face-up game if he wants to live up to his promise.

“The kid’s been working like crazy on his outside shot,” Dunleavy said. “Yesterday in practice, he hit a twenty-footer, then a 3-pointer to end one of the games, and made probably six jumpers over 20 feet.”

Griffin finished 11-of-15 from the field, and those 11 shots came every which way. He worked familiar territory on the right block. He pulled down offensive rebounds and muscled up putbacks. He fired turnaround hook shots. He even ignited a solo, coast-to-coast break to punctuate his performance in the fourth quarter. Granted, Griffin will draw tougher assignments this fall than McCauley and David Monds, but the range of skills the rookie displayed Monday night was impressive.

“He did everything we expected him to do,” Dunleavy said. “For a guy like him, it’s hard to have a bad game because he plays so hard and does so many things. He’s very unselfish and he draws a lot of attention. Tonight, he made the plays to the right people at the right time and got them easy scores.”

Along those lines, Griffin repeatedly laid out hard screens for Gordon and Taylor, precisely the sort of grunt work that the Clippers sorely missed last season at the power forward spot. Twice when he got doubled in the right post, Griffin whipped sharp interior passes to open teammates.

On defense, Griffin was the most vocal presence on the floor for the Clippers, playing traffic cop on every defensive set. He let his guards know when screens were coming, and called out defensive assignments in transition.

“I did a lot of that last year in college,” Griffin said. “This year I have to step it up even more because it will help me out, and if I talk I’m more aware of everything that’s going on around me.”

Awareness wasn’t a strong suit of the Clippers last season. They finished 19-63, and dead last in the league in offensive efficiency. Although injuries played a measurable role in the team’s struggles, their nightly routine was marred, above all, by laziness and a lack of intensity.

Griffin brings no such deficit to the court. If anything, the rookie was overly keyed up for his first game. After his early scoring spurt, Griffin racked up a couple of careless turnovers — a function of playing too fast. As he went back to the bench at the end of the first quarter, the coaching staff had a tip for him.

“Just relax and have fun,” Griffin said.